Where I'm Meant to Be
by khaleessiya
Summary: Halloween has come to Storybrooke, much to Will's dismay.


A/N: The place Alice and Will are at in the beginning is based off a real place in Old Sacramento (California). I know it's featured very briefly in this story, but if you're ever there during the Halloween season, I highly recommend you take the time to look in Evangeline's Costume Mansion. You won't be disappointed.

* * *

"You can't dress up as Alice in Wonderland," Will tries telling her, but Alice isn't listening.

Across the room, she's letting her fingers trail over the varying costumes, pausing at Belle's gold dress before stopping in front of the correct section. A bemused smile curves her lips as she holds out the Mad Hatter, inspecting the short, colorful dress and tiny hat.

"Looks nothing like him," she says, pushing it out of the way so she can touch the furry Cheshire costume, striped in pink and purple. Something like a snort comes from her, "Honestly. Doesn't even look like a cat."

"Not sure that's the point, love," he sighs, because really, explaining women's costumes and their tendencies toward the provocative is pretty much the last thing he wants to be doing right now. Especially when she turns to him, expression full of that same curiousness that always lets him know she's about to ask him something along the lines of _why_.

"Then what is?"

"You know," he starts, even though he knows she doesn't, "Girls get to dress up. Let loose. Shorten their skirts a bit more than usual."

By all accounts, it's a pathetic explanation, made all the more clear by the look on Alice's face. An eyebrow raised, lips pursed as she waits expectantly for more. Will hasn't got more, so he raises his hands and shrugs. Several seconds stretch between them, until finally she accepts that's all she's getting with her own shrug, small and only with one shoulder.

"Now, where are the Alice ones," she mutters, making a barely audible sound of victory when she reaches them, flipping quickly through one after another. Obviously not all that pleased by what she finds, tsking at that, hmming at this. Will catches a whispered, "I'd never," just before she huffs, shoving the dresses away with a clatter as the metal hangers clang together.

"I told you, you can't go as yourself anyway," Will chimes in, following as Alice leaves Storybook Land altogether, heads down the curved staircase, past the Renaissance Room, and into the Gothic Chamber.

Ruby, in all seriousness, does expect them to dress like Disney characters, however. Something Will can say he's looking forward to with as much enthusiasm as he might getting a tooth pulled. Particularly since his options are either a prince or a sidekick, possibly an animal. Ideas that do very little to entice or excite him. But really, what's Ruby expecting? Disney, _of all things_.

"Well, you've seen the movies. I haven't," Alice says, glancing back at him as she peruses the area for witches and vampires.

Lots of tiny, black, velvet and lace numbers he can't help but imagine her wearing. Which naturally goes the way of imagining them scattered on his bedroom floor. It takes him a few seconds to realize he's missed the other half of what she's been saying.

"What?" he asks, more to distract himself than anything.

"Who do you think I should go as?"

_The better question,_ Will muses, _is why am I letting Ruby force us to dress up like Disney characters in the first place?_ A question that, when he thinks about it in conjunction with Alice, remembering the eagerness that had lit up her face when the party had been brought up... Well, there's his answer. Plain and simple.

Because he knows, aside from wanting to have fun with their predicament in this town, Ruby had jumped at the opportunity to make Alice's first Halloween special. Will only wishes she'd chosen something else. A broader spectrum of fictional characters, maybe. Anything but bloody _Disney_.

Thankfully, the buzz in his pocket makes it so he doesn't have to reveal just how many Disney movies he's actually seen in the twenty-eight years he's been in Storybrooke. _Speak of the devil_, he thinks when he sees who's calling. Sliding a thumb across the screen, he answers with her name.

"Did she pick one yet?" Ruby's voice is barely discernible through the noise he recognizes as being Granny's during lunch hour.

"No," Will says slowly, "but I might just let her go as herself if one of you doesn't come down and help me."

"Not necessary," Ruby sounds like she's smiling, "Belle figured you'd be useless, so she wanted _me_ to tell _you_ to tell _Alice_ we've got it covered."

"But-"

"Don't buy anything. Those costumes are awful," Ruby continues, and Will wonders if she even heard him. "Belle wants to make yours. Come by tonight, ok?"

Who is he to argue?

* * *

By all accounts, it's less a costume and more a throwback to Will's days in the Enchanted Forest and Wonderland. Giving credit where credit's due, Belle did an excellent job, and as much as he balks at the idea, he rather looks the part now that it's finished. _Mostly._ When Ruby had suggested a wig to make his hair the right length he'd refused, finally putting his foot down. Luckily, neither had chosen to argue.

Instead, they set him to decorating the diner. Cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, pumpkins with candles in them along the counter. Will has a particularly difficult time hanging the large skeleton with it's billowing cloak, but he manages, all the while cursing himself for ever befriending Ruby in the first place. By the time he's finished, it looks festive enough, but more suited for children than anything.

Which, he soon discovers, is exactly the point. She has him babysitting a bloody party for boys and girls. Scowling, Will watches a pint size Ariel drag a very displeased looking Robin Hood behind her through the diner door. _I know how you feel, brother,_ he thinks, watching the two kids join a trio of Meridas with varying degrees of success in terms of the Princess' unruly hair. _What has my life become?_

"Will?" his name catches his attention just as he's turning away to find Ruby and murder her.

Glancing back, Will sees a little girl dressed in an exact replica of Aurora's dress, complete with pink that shimmers into blue before transitioning back. At first, he doesn't recognize it's Paige, too caught up in wondering just how much she had to bribe one of the fairies in town to spill a little magic on the fabric while making it. Then he sees Jefferson standing behind her, hair darkened black, with a mustache and pointed goatee to match, outfit perfectly on point.

"I thought they were lying when they told me you'd be here," Jefferson says, mouth quirked in a grin as he looks Will over.

"Only here for Alice," he protests, trying not to notice how Paige's eyes have fixed on him, lighting up. _Bloody hell_.

"Oh? And just where is she then?"

Will does a quick scan of the room, comes up with no Alice and fights the urge to turn heel and flee. This, this dressing up and whatever the hell he's doing here, it's not really him. Once he might have said the same thing about Jefferson, who looks just a little too comfortable in his getup as, and Will is embarrassed to admit he even knows this, King Stefan. But, ever since reuniting with his daughter, the Mad Hatter has seemed quite happy - and _mostly_ sane.

"She's, uh, you know... I don't know," Will admits.

Jefferson only laughs, shaking his head.

"She's outside. We saw her coming in," there's a pause as he leans forward, as if to make it so Paige can't hear him, and stage whispers, "When you find her, let her know there's someone here who'd really like a picture with the both of you."

Will dies a little inside.

"Right, well, if you'll excuse me then," he says, not bothering to wait for a reply before heading toward the door.

_Is all of bloody Storybrooke here?_

Outside, it takes him several minutes to find her in the throng of adults and children. When he finally does, he stops, struck by the sight of Alice with a wide smile on her face, kneeling in front of a little girl who looks like her dream just came true. And perhaps it did. They might all be the real life counterparts of characters in fairytales and legends, but these children also have memories of being normal children who fell in love with Princesses on their television screens.

The wide-eyed wonder on the little girl's face is the same he's seen in pictures of children at Disneyland, and Will knows none of these boys and girls will ever get to go there. For the first time tonight, looking around at all the various characters in their brilliantly done costumes, Will sees exactly what Ruby and Belle intended this Halloween to be. As much as it pains him, he concedes that maybe it's not such a bad thing to be dressed up then.

Alice looks up, sees him, and her smile brightens, instantly filling him with warmth and a thousand other things he doesn't think he could ever put a name to aside from happiness. Standing, she says something to the girl before making her way to him. Will takes the time to appreciate the cut of the dress she's wearing, the way it clings to her slim frame, hugging her curves. Right then, Will can't think of another time he's seen her look quite so captivating.

"Do I look ok?" she whispers once she's next to him, slipping her hand into his. "They wanted me to wear a wig, but I didn't like it."

Will smiles, lifts her hand to kiss the back of it.

"You look perfect, and you got the flowers in it alright," he tells her, "Besides, I didn't wear the wig either."

And judging by the reaction of the children nearest them, Will's inclined to say that even without the right hair, he and Alice make a convincing enough Flynn Rider and Rapunzel.


End file.
